Why we love Star Wars: an explainer for 'normal' people

Dear 'normal' people,

We know that for as many of us who were in the queue to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening night and will be first in line for this week's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, there’s an equally sizeable proportion of our planet-dwelling populace who will be raising a collective shrug, taking to the streets to enjoy the sudden dearth of traffic, get a table at that busy restaurant, and do anything they can to avoid mentions of The Force. (As for the rest of us, we find your lack of faith disturbing.)

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Loving Star Wars can be misunderstood as simplistic: the love of a sci-fi trilogy – of Empire aside – debatable greatness, and a prequel trilogy infamous in its mediocrity. But listen, nerf-herders: it’s so much more than that. Here's why:

Because it’s about friendship

"For me, Star Wars wasn’t ever about the films. The prequels came out when I was a teenager, and I’d seen the Original Trilogy – and recognised their inherent superiority – a little earlier. But for me, the immersion came mostly from games: from early memories of X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, to playing out epic Battlefront II space battles with my brother and later, as a retro fix with my best friend at university. I remember adoring the Knights Of The Old Republic games with their sheer volume of lore: wise-cracking robots, sleek spaceships piloted by brave rogues, traitorous Sith Lords. The films will always be a cultural touchstone (and Episode I, I will always insist, is cruelly underrated). But for me Star Wars means more than who shot first, or doing Chewie impressions. It’s the universe that A New Hope started. And it’s being a kid with my friends, our imaginations fired by a galaxy far, far away."

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"Stepping stone of my childhood; great, classic storytelling that still works nowadays. It features interesting and complex characters. Leia was a role model – a strong lady who doesn't take any BS and leads an army to freedom. Also, it got (kid!) me interested in SF which is a big passion to this day, and it got me to bond with my father. It's a universal story that helped make SF a globally appreciated genre. It's got the right formula of high stakes and action, romance and angst. It's got funny characters, too, and classic tropes – and it's infinitely entertaining."

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Because it's about childhood

"It was the first sci-fi franchise I ever watched. I was so young, I don't remember my first time watching. I was raised on it. Leia was a different type of Princess than those in most movies shown to girls my age. She was a political & military leader. It showed me a girl who was like me: rough and tumble and loud and brash and demanding. That felt unique and rare at the time. Star Wars and Leia and Padme became fundamental parts of my childhood and identity. They showed me it was okay to just be me. Plus, laser swords and telekinesis and JEDI and battles in space. That was pretty cool too."

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"Epic story of good vs. evil, totally immersive worlds, Leia & Han's dynamic, plus lightsabers & spaceships are cool. Also, at 12, when I first saw Star Wars, I totally wanted to be a Jedi. (That may still be true.)"

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Because it's all about the build-up

"I love Star Wars for the build-up. The joy of seeing a first trailer, for me, outstrips the experience of seeing the entire film that follows. No Star Wars movie can hope to completely match the feeling of watching the original trilogy, simply because you’re no longer a child but a grown up who knows Chewie is a man in a suit and that you’ve probably missed your chance to grow up to be an intergalactic bounty hunter. But in the build-up, as much for The Phantom Menace as The Force Awakens, it’s all potential. Everything you want is possible. You get fleeting reunions with favourite characters, hints of new ones to come, and for those moments the excitement is the one you remember from so long ago. It almost doesn’t matter what follows, that belief that something great might be coming is one of the best parts of being a film fan. And no series delivers that thrill like Star Wars."

Olly Richards, WIRED contributor

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Because gadgets

"Because despite the continued meddling from Mr Lucas and his many updates (Hey, George, bring back Yub Nub!) nothing can dull the child-like excitement the series has given me for all things sci-fi. Plus, as product editor, I have been searching the tech companies high and low for someone to make a working Dejarik table. I think with the arrival of proper home VR, the time might be upon us."

Jeremy White, product editor, WIRED

Because it's about the real world

"I like its parallels to Rome, to the Odyssey, nods to the dark side being Nazi, it's very nuanced if you look."

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Because it teaches us the value of stories

"Every culture rewrites its folk tales, layering on new characters' faces to ancient bones. Heroes, monsters, prophets and prophecies, and love – these are universal. Religions have risen and fallen on the likeability of their characters. (There is a reason that Thor is a member of the Avengers.) And Star Wars – for all that it is an old, arbitrary plot, told with uneven balance across six, mostly bad films – is one of the best. We adapted it, shared it, venerated it and consumed it, but now it lives inside us, between us, binding us together. Fan or not, Star Wars is part of you, and you are part of it. Like the travels of Odysseus, the ravages of our ancient, meddlesome gods, the trials of Superman and the heroic journeys of Mario, you can't avoid it.

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And as a tale of the 20th century, it could hardly be more relevant: it is there to warn us about the dangers of Fascism, to chide us for our greed, and remind us of the need for patience, balance with nature, and friendship. Star Wars confirms the eternal value of stories, our human ability to share our wisdom, and our willingness to settle down together in a dark place and have someone spin us a tale we already know. And how could you not love that?"

Michael Rundle, former wired.co.uk editor

"The epic adventure crossed language, gender and race. It was a universal experience and made us all want to be brave."

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Because its cultural impact is unparalleled

"Love may be the wrong word, but I'm fascinated by Star Wars because in many, many parallel worlds, George Lucas had a career as a respected documentary filmmaker, or a totemic editor. In maybe one of a million universes does his combination of the narrative structure of a fairy tale with the model-making and aesthetic of the downbeat, broken future sci-fi movies of the 70s even get made.

In one out of a billion it turns out to be the most successful independent creative enterprise of all time. I'm fascinated by Star Wars because of what a world without Star Wars would look like. No Star Wars means no LucasFilm or LucasArts. Would there still have been a golden age of video adventure games without Monkey Island, Full Throttle or Sam and Max? Would there be a Mass Effect without Knights of the Old Republic? Would JJ Abrams be making Star Trek movies, never mind Star Wars movies, without the hunt for the next space sensation that relaunched the franchise? Would Harrison Ford have become Hollywood's most sought-after carpenter? And what would be filling that hole in Disney's plan for world media domination?

One of many incredible things about Star Wars is that every time you think you've mapped out every aspect of how different a world without Star Wars would be, you think of something else."

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We want to hear your stories. Tweet @WIREDUK and include #WhyILoveStarWars to tell us why. This story was originally published ahead of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and has been reworked for Star Wars day on May 4